Laurence Dollimore
FUEL bills across Spain are expected to soar this month after the cold weather sent demand soaring.
The wholesale price of electricity will exceed €100 per megawatt per hour at peak time of 9pm on Wednesday, according to market operator Omie.
The level is the highest reached since March 2014.
Homeowners are being warned by consumer associations that their electricity bill for January could rise by 20%.
So far in 2017 the average price per megawatt hour has been €67.47, a mammoth 113% increase on the same period last year.
Bill increases will depend on whether households have fixed rate contracts with their electricity companies or whether they are open to market fluctuations.
The soar in prices is due to extreme weather conditions which damaged energy production.
Solar and wind production were hit hard while households across the country cranked up their heating to keep warm.
“Solar and wind production were hit hard while households across the country cranked up their heating to keep warm”
Showing that both are unfit for purpose to ensure a stable and cost effective electricity supply.
The average winter fuel bill in France is Euro1600 as this is a median figure, I’m guessing that in the cold north, especially bordering Germany this could be well over 2000 and probably lower along the Med coast.
Sadly France has lots and lots of stone built houses which silly Brits buy, just as they do in Spain. These houses are freezing cold in winter and sweltering in summer. New build Spanish houses need no explanation from anyone that lives in them. The new 2012 regs. in France are way inferior to the UK which themselves are way inferior to Scandinavia.
If Europeans lived in houses built of the right materials and in the right way then energy consumption would fall dramatically, sadly all European parliaments are stuffed with whores who do their paymasters (construction companies) bidding. It’s still tricky that EDF might have to use power cuts as problems have been found in 3 nuclear power reactors. The good thing for lots of French is that they have wood burning stoves and a plentiful supply of wood, by far the cheapest form of heating, as the French alone in western Europe were not so stupid as to cut down all their forests.
Just had my bill for January (following installation of smart meter I get a monthly bill) it came to €77, quite happy with that as I have been running two fan heaters during the cold spell.